Tainted Memories
by feaashley
Summary: Claire Leons was taken away when her mother found out about Quil. Of course she was only three at the time. However, when Claire wakes up next to her dead mother she questions the killer motives but gets a shock on her mother's.


**Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight. **

**Prologue**

Claire Leons was only thirteen when she woke up with a headache, a bruise, and blood.

But not hers.

Her mother's.

Claire shrieked in horror when she woke up next to her dead mother. Her lifeless brown eyes still open.

Claire panicked. She didn't know what to think. She just kept looking at her dead mother.

Then, gathering all her courage, she got up slowly. Legs still working, arms too. She walked toward the house phone with shock and dialed 911.

With shaking hands, she managed to hold on to the phone.

"911 what's your emergency?"

"My mom…"

"Miss?"

"My mom… she's on the floor. There's blood…blood everywhere."

"Miss? What's your address?"

"She's dead…there's too much blood."

"Miss? We got your location. We're sending the police and an ambulance there right now."

"Don't bother."

"I'm sorry Miss?"

"I said don't bother. You're too late."

Claire hung up.

She dropped the phone that was now covered in her bloody fingerprints. She knew her mother was dead. Her blood was everywhere.

Even on her.

Claire left the room where the gruesome scene was. She kept walking down the hallway until she reached her mother's bedroom.

She stepped inside. There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing messy.

She walked around the room, still trying to register what had happened. But there was no evidence. The bed was made. The mirrors were clean. The dressers were shut. The closet was neat. The chair has not been sat on. The chair's coaster-

The police came. Cops everywhere.

Claire turned around. "You're too late." Was all she said.

"She's dead."

**3 years later. **

"How are you feeling Claire?" Psychologist Katherine Simmons asked her sixteen year old patient.

"Usual." Claire said her eyes closed.

Mrs. Simmons nodded. "I see. And how are you coping? Have you been eating?"

"I sleep a lot. And I eat." She breathed. She did not need this, yet it seemed so comforting.

It confused Claire a lot.

"Well Claire, you seem to be dealing with this very well."

"It's been three years."

"Some people take a lifetime to cope with family deaths."

"but my mother wasn't family. She was my mother, someone closer tha a best friend that you can tell secrets too. Or a sister that you can mess around with. She was my mother. And she left her daughter here on earth."

"Are you saying you're suicidal?"

"Of course not Mrs. Simmons." Claire replied tonelessly.

"And how are you in school?"

Claire shrugged, "school is school. Boring, tiring, and depressing."

"Depressing? School is supposed to be fun, educational, a social environment."

"Yet in the classes, teachers want it silent. The ony social matter is when someone asks you for an answer or to borrow an eraser."

"I think you need to be optimistic."

"No I don't. I'm not pessimistic but I'm not a positive Polly pocket either. I do my work, talk when necessary, and I receive decent grades."

"Decent grades?"

Claire nodded.

"What are your grades?"

"I have a B in health class, a C in Spanish, a B- in physics, a C+ in English, a C- in history, and a D+ in algebra 2."

"Try to turn that D+ into a C+ or maybe a B. and those C's into B's or maybe A's."

Claire shrugged, "I'm currently working on it."

"Claire, what about college?"

"What about it?"

"Don't you want to go? Or maybe a university?"

"My gpa is a 2.1."

"Claire!"

"I'll have my grades up by October. Right now, I'm just surviving school."

"I know September is the anniversary."

"Anniversary? Anniversaries are meant to be romantic, nice, and sweet. This isn't an anniversary. This is a reoccurring memory."

"Claire-"

"It's not just the anniversary that I think about it. It's every day. Well almost, if you count sleeping pills that knock you out for seventeen hours a day. I don't."

"Claire, you need to stop the pills. It will make you more tired. What other pills do you take?"

"iron pills. Vitamins. Sometimes ibuprophen. After all, I'm still a growing human being."

Mrs. Simmons sighed. "Claire, have you ever thought about other family members?"

"Like who?"

"Any relatives? Your father perhaps?"

"My mother declared that my biological father died years ago."

"Do you know that?"

"Are you accusing my mother's declaration?"

"You're sounding as if you want to start a war."

"You're asking for one Mrs. Simmons."

The timer stopped.

"Our session is over. I'll see you next week Claire."

Claire rolled her eyes, "you have to. It's your job. You get paid to hear people's misery for an hour and you give advice that everyone knows won't help."

Mrs. Simmons looked at Claire.

"But you get money. And that's all it matters. So of course I'll see you next week. Goodbye Mrs. Simmons."

Claire left without another word.

**Review?**


End file.
